Broadcom Fuels 10GbE Adoption with World's First Dual-Port 10GBASE-T Adapter with Full Offload

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ethernet Technology Summit -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today unveiled the world's first dual-port 10GBASE-T adapter with full offload capabilities (BCM957712-T). Based on Broadcom's award-winning Ethernet technology, the solution represents innovation honed over multiple generations. Packaged in a low-profile PCI Express® form factor, the solution supports both networking and storage traffic over a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connection.  

Using cost-effective RJ-45 connections for distances up to 100 meters, the new Broadcom adapter delivers significant cost and power savings to Enterprise server farms and cloud data centers, providing a cost effective transition path from legacy 1GbE devices to 10GbE. According to the January 2011 LightCounting report on 10GBASE-T, total 10GBASE-T ports are expected to increase dramatically between 2011 and 2014, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 233 percent.

Based on Broadcom's proven BCM57712 MAC and BCM84823 PHY components, the new 10GBASET adapter is the first technology to bring full offload capabilities to 10GbE and the first to integrate TCP/IP and iSCSI offload on a 10GBASE-T medium. Tight integration between the MAC and PHY layers and end-to-end interaction between the server and switch provides optimized performance and flexibility.  Broadcom will feature the new offering this week at the Ethernet Technology Summit, in booth 301 at the Santa Clara Marriott, Santa Clara, Calif.

Highlights/Key Facts

• By combining its in-house MAC and PHY components, Broadcom has become the first and only company in the industry to deliver a seamlessly integrated, industry-proven, fully-offloaded 10GBASE-T solution – from a single vendor.
• 10GBASE-T paves the way for mitigating 10GbE deployment costs, and will replace more expensive fiber cables and optical transceivers required by SFP+ solutions. Operating at Gigabit speeds for backward compatibility is a key advantage of 10GBASE-T, delivering a common physical interface that provides full spec compliance and interoperability at 10GbE, while providing a seamless interface to existing infrastructure.
• High performance adapter delivers bi-directional line rate throughput across both ports, and over 1Million iSCSI IOPS.
• The BCM957712-T adapter is based on Broadcom's complete suite of 10GbE Ethernet controllers featuring the company's leading dual-port MAC and dual-port 10GBASE-T PHY. It utilizes field proven drivers for mainstream operating systems and a comprehensive unified NIC management system using the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) management application, providing a single platform for network and storage I/O management.
  • The turnkey adapter operates at 100 meters over CAT6a unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables. The adapter's 10GBASE-T PHY uses a highly advanced digital signal processor (DSP) based architecture that allows robust operation over UTP wiring.  UTP enables the use of structured cabling, a key advantage in delivering the lowest total cost solution within the Data Center.
  • The innovative offload architecture minimizes CPU overhead eliminating competition for host resources while freeing valuable CPU cycles for processing user applications.
  • The iSCSI operation is offloaded and accelerated for block storage resulting in high input/output instructions per second, as well as higher bandwidth.
  • The adapter uses a remote switching system (RSS) to avoid bottlenecks by distributing network processing across multiple CPUs.
• The BCM957712-T 10GBASE-T adapter is now sampling to early access customers with production volume expected in calendar Q2 2011.

Quotes:

Kimball Brown, VP Datacom Analyst, LightCounting, LLC

"As more and more virtual machines are run on a given physical server, the aggregate bandwidth for that server grows – driving a clear market need for 10GbE solutions. To date, these solutions have been expensive to deploy due to costly optical cabling architectures, and because dual port 10GBASET technology has not been viable in a server.  However, in 2011, dual-port 10GBASE-T adapters such as Broadcom's can now provide support to a much larger market segment due to the inherent flexibility and cost-effectiveness of the RJ-45 connections."

Vinod Lakhani, General Manager, High Speed Controllers, Broadcom Corporation

"With the unrelenting demand for instant access to data and applications, data center managers continue to turn to 10GbE technology to address increased bandwidth requirements. Broadcom's 10GBASE-T adapter packages all the essential elements needed to support the transformation of the data center, by helping customers and end users to significantly cut costs and improve efficiency."

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About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.  Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment.  We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices.  These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2010 revenue of $6.82 billion, holds more than 4,800 U.S. and 2,000 foreign patents, and has more than 7,800 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

A FORTUNE 500® company, Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.

Cautions regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change.  Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words.  Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the demand for 10GbE technology, our position in that space and volume production of Broadcom 10GBASE-T adapters .  These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with its BCM957712-T 10GBASE-T adapter include, but are not limited to:

• The rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products;
• The timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; and
• Competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products.

Additional factors that may cause Broadcom's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the list that can be found at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q42010.php.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.  The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

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SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Infrastructure & Networking